GDC '08 - Gamespot previews Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

Infinite Interactive are hard at work at their semi-sequel to the hit Puzzle game - Puzzle Quest. During GDC - CEO Steve Fawkner had his own session, discussing the troubles they had trying to find a publisher for the original - that it was deemed "too risky" - you can read about that here.

Infinite Interactive demoed their upcoming title to Gamespot after the session. Galactrix has had a slight name change since the original announcement - it now has Puzzle Quest slapped on the front of the title. And who wouldn't? GFW Magazine just gave the original game a 10/10!

The Gamespot preview discusses the differences between the original and the sequel - Galactrix sounds like it's expanding on the orginal in very different ways. The game has also changed style somewhat - as seen on the official page the game was originally looking much like Puzzle Quest or even Tetris. With the new shots from Gamespot you can see it's gone with a new Hex-style board as you battle other ships:

D3 was only focusing on the core puzzle gameplay in Galactrix during our demo, so that's all we got to see firsthand. But in talking with company reps, we discovered there will be more going on between battles here than there was in Puzzle Quest. That game took place only on a single world map, but in Galactrix, your quest will span planets, star systems--and perhaps even the entire galaxy.

A number of other gameplay systems will underpin your mission. There's a diplomacy system that will track your standing with various factions throughout your interstellar travels, governing the interactions you're able to have with them.

A commodity system will tally your income and dictate what resources you're able to amass to assist your offensive effort. And, there will be ship building, allowing you to collect blueprints you can use to construct new and varied ships for your fleet then customize their weaponry for different kinds of enemy encounters.

You can read the preview here, as well as a video interview with Steve Fawkner here. While initially set as a PC game and then later a XBLA title, this screenshot suggests that they might be attempting to do all of them at once:


"Achievements" eh?

Source: Gamespot - Galactrix first look!